I get most of my European news from the Financial Times, which I admit does make for a somewhat skewed perspective on British politics. You all do still wear top hats and monocles, right? But apparently Britain's Prime Minister is promoting, earlier than expected in the wake of the London riots, a tax credit for married or co-habiting couples with the belief that a two-parent family makes for a more stable home and fewer young thugs (or...
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Famine and Conflict Resolution in Somalia – part IV (on the 2011 East African drought)
So, I mentioned in a previous post on the debt ceiling that my wife and I were expecting the birth of our first child. Our son, Guy William, was born this past week, and I couldn't resist sharing our news. His namesake is my friend Guy Hughes, who died tragically five years ago in a climbing accident.Guy was a tireless advocate for global justice, and I have no doubt that he would have fiercely been defending the needs of those suffering from...
Crimes in and of Famine
If you find the argument that famine is man-made to be credible, then famine is not just an inevitable outcome of the structural conditions of "failed states" but rather it is purposeful, systematic, and systemic human rights abuse and therefore criminal. Those who make the argument that the current famine in East Africa is man-made place more blame on political problems of restricted access, entitlements and aid management than the...
Paintball and Pedagogy: A Bleg
Syllabus-revamping time this year coincides with the last few quiet, pre-soccer-season weekends available for paint-balling with my son. With both BT Omegas and class prep on the brain, thought I'd reach out for ideas on how to integrate class trips to the arena into a course on the laws of war. I've done this once before, when I taught "War and Gender" back at Drake University. In that case, the students organized it as an experiment in...
Are You Ready for Some Football…..Analogies?
Recently I offered an "argument" about what conservative males find attractive about Sarah Palin -- her attractiveness -- and I provided some "evidence" by reference to the parallels between pretty female candidates and women sideline reporters with two XXs (Chromosomes, you creeps! Get your mind out of the gutter!). I made the claim that Bachmann's support rested more on her craziness than her beauty, but then I found this. I am recalibrating...
Pornography and National Security: The ever expanding threat
In today's 'horrors of bad social science', we have a piece by Jennifer S. Bryson, director of the Witherspoon Institute’s Islam and Civil Society Project, (which seems to be a conservative think-tank) who has written a piece for the Institute's blog on the threat of pornography for national security. (No really.)Bryson asks the question that no serious scholar has ever, ever addressed and comes up with an argument to be considered. In fact,...
Friday Nerd Blogging
George R. R. Martin to JK Rowling: via GameofLOLs:Harry Potter spoiler: Snape kills Dumbledore. A Song of Ice and Fire spoiler: EVERYONE YOU LOVE IS KILLEDOh about that? here is one awfully funny ASOIAF essay (I really do mean 'awfully').
Impunity Gap: Syria
There is a near absence of calls for accountability in the international responses to the ongoing and escalating violence in Syria. Unlike in the Libya situation, where there was a swift UN Security Council Resolution mandating both the use of force and a referral to the International Criminal Court, influential states and human rights groups have yet to stand firm on either type of response for Syria. Is it simply premature or...
Film review: Godard’s “Made in U.S.A.”
“We were in a political movie ... Walt Disney with blood.”I generally do not discuss films unless I enjoy them and intend to recommend them without hesitation. Jean-Luc Godard's "Made in U.S.A." is an exception, worth mentioning in part because it has so rarely been viewed in the US. Godard made the film in 1966, during an incredibly prolific period of his career. Ostensibly, the film pays homage to "The Big Sleep," a Humphrey Bogart-Lauren...
Stability Ops Among Muggles
Foreign Policy's latest foray into the nexus between science fiction and political reality is a lively sketch on post-conflict reconstruction, Harry Potter style. Written by experts on the topic from the Marine Corps War College, Human Rights Watch and the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, the key point is this: though the "story" ends when the bad guys are vanquished (be they Deatheaters or Saddam Hussein's forces) is is then that the...
Safeguarding medical workers in hostilities
Yesterday the ICRC released a report on the very scary and depressing trend of attacks on medical workers in situations of armed conflict and civil disturbances:According to Dr Robin Coupland, who led the research carried out in 16 countries across the globe, millions could be spared if the delivery of health care were more widely respected. "The most shocking finding is that people die in large numbers not because they are direct victims of a...
State of the Field, Redux: What’s Wrong with IPE?
There are a few things that make me really hot under the collar. The first is the unending 100+ degree summer heat in central Texas. The second is the unending debate on the "state of the field", in particular the state of the International Political Economy (IPE) discipline. It is a topic near and dear to my heart (IPE, not Texas heat). A few years ago, I was so provoked by Benjamin Cohen's trenchant intellectual history of IPE and the...